The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for scanning capillary tubes for minute particles, and more particularly, relates to a method and apparatus for scanning capillary tubes to count very small biological materials and particles, to determine the chemical activity of such particles.
In the diagnosis and treatment of human cancer, a recurring problem is the timely selection of the most effective chemotherapeutic agent against an individual tumor. A system that quickly clones a human tumor to provide multiple specimens for testing of the various chemotherapeutic agents for effectivity has the potential for predicting which drug will be effective against a specific tumor.
The conventional two layer soft agar system for such cloning has a variety of problems that render this system ineffective. These problems include the inability to grow the majority of patients' tumors, the need for a large number of tumor cells, the large amount of technical time and expense for plating and counting, and the lack of flexibility for utilizing different drug schedules or combinations of drugs.
This conventional two layer soft agar system usually employs 35 mm petri dishes. However, the use of capillary tubes has increased the success rate of tumor growth beyond that of the petri dishes. To detect and count the tumor cell growth in petri dishes, there are commercially available image analyzers. Since the capillary technique appears to be more successful, there is a need for an automated apparatus for detection and counting of capillary clone colonies.
The equipment that is known or commercially available is not fully automated or not well suited for this application or related applications because of expense or reliability problems. This type of equipment is typified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,063 to Bowman. Such equipment usually detects a scattered beam with a very sensitive photomultiplier tube. These photo multiplier tubes are very fragile in nature and are susceptible to damage or reduced sensitivity with routine handling and use.
These and other limitations and disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, however, and improved methods and apparatus are provided for detecting and measuring minute particles in capillary tubing.